Topological state transport in topological insulators under the influence of hexagonal warping and exchange coupling to in-plane magnetizations

A hexagonal warping term has been proposed recently to explain the experimentally observed 2D equal energy contours of the surface states of the topological insulator Bi2Te3. Differing from the Dirac fermion Hamiltonian, the hexagonal warping term leads to the opening up of a band gap by an in-plane magnetization. We study the transmission between two Bi2Te3 segments subjected to different in-plane magnetizations and potentials. The opening up of a bandgap, and the accompanying displacement and distortion of the constant energy surfaces from their usual circular shapes by the in-plane magnetizations, modify the transverse momentum overlap between the two Bi2Te3 segments, and strongly modulate the transmission profile. The strong dependence of the TI surface state transport of Bi2Te3 on the magnetization orientation of an adjacent ferromagnetic layer may potentially be utilized in, e.g., a memory readout application.